FAIRFIELD -- If the Trinity Catholic boys basketball team has had one flaw during what has been a near-perfect season, it is a penchant for letting up instead of applying a knockout punch.

It is a problem the Crusaders have learned to overcome, and their coach, Mike Walsh, has come to accept.

The Crusaders jumped out to a big lead early against Wilton in Tuesday's FCIAC semifinals, and though they played at their worse when they led by the most, their 62-47 win at Fairfield Warde was mostly a cruise-control effort.

"It's nice to be able to do that, but we are not going to be able to do that the rest of the year," Walsh said. "We took some bad shots, especially when we got ahead, but we shot well early."

Schadrac Casimir finished with 21 points, though his greatest contributions may have come on the defensive end, and Brandon Wheeler added 19 points for the second-seeded Crusaders (21-1), who will face No. 4 Central on Thursday night for the title.

Central beat top-seed St. Joseph 70-67 in Tuesday's nightcap.

"When we get a big lead sometimes, we take our pedal off the metal," Wheeler said. "But we find a way to win."

The Crusaders, who lost in last year's final to Bassick and have not won a conference title since 2008, scored the first nine points against Wilton and quickly built an 18-5 lead. The Warriors managed to get it under 10 points just once, at 22-13 midway through the second quarter.

"I thought our defensive effort was pretty good," Walsh said. "We forced them into a pretty bad shooting night. We came close a few times to letting them back in but we always rose to the occasion."

Wilton (14-8), the No. 6 seed, was riding a five-game winning streak since a five-point home loss to Trinity.

The Warriors have lived off of their 3-point shooting, but it failed them against Trinity. They made just 8 of 30 first-half shots and never recovered.

Several times Wilton was on the verge of that magic moment -- an open jump shot that would have made the deficit manageable and brought an anticipatory crowd to its feet. Each time, the Warriors missed.

Weston Wilbur led Wilton with 14 points, carrying the team in the second half. Olandi Legrand added 11 points. But Eric Houska, who scored 26 in the quarterfinal win against Westhill, was held to just 2 points by Casimir.

"Their defense played well and Schad did a great job on Eric tonight," Wilton coach Joel Geriak said. "That being said, we had some wide-open shots and usually hit some. They are very quick and Schadrac is very, very quick. He's a great on-ball defender, and Brandon Wheeler doesn't get enough credit for what he does."

Wilton flirted with getting back in the game early in the second half, with Wilbur hitting a 3-pointer that made the score 34-22, but Trinity answered with a 7-0 run, started by a Casimir jump shot and Wheeler steal and dunk.

Wilton had a 7-0 run of its own and was within 45-35 with 6:08 left in the game on another 3-pointer by Wilbur.

But Tremaine Fraiser, who struggled early, scored 9 of his 12 points down the stretch.

"I can't wait for the finals, no matter who we play," Wheeler said. "Last year was heartbreaking. One thing you can count on is we are going to be ready."